Selfish
by Cashmeritan
Summary: *KakaSaku oneshot* When did it stop being weird? After this, there was no way that things could ever go back to normal between them. Sakura and Kakashi's friendship has taken a sudden shift, and Sakura feels as though she's been left in the dark the entire time.


_**Selfish**_

Hatake Kakashi was his name, and without the familiar honorific it sounded foreign when coming from her lips. The syllables sounded harsh in the back of her throat, entirely different from her cute and diminutive, 'Se-n-se-i~!'

But they were equals now. For otherwise, they probably wouldn't be drinking buddies who walked each other home on an alternating basis when the other got too sloshed to function.

Sakura was sitting at the very end of the bar, almost ready to leave. She could tell by the way he was now propping himself up by an elbow on the counter and a hand pressed to his temple that he was probably thinking the same thing. His fingers were gliding over the edge of his emptied shot glass, his eyes unfocused and vacant.

She heaved a short sigh and tilted her head back to dump her last shot of whiskey down her throat, flailing her free hand and releasing a high pitched sound within the deepest recesses of her vocals at the burn that always managed to catch her off guard. Always.

Kakashi glanced over at her, looking completely doped up. "Wha'?" he sighed more than asked.

Sakura waved her hands in front of him, coughing. "Nothing! I'm done, let's go." She reached down next to her stool and collected her bag, setting it on her lap as she began to rummage through. "I'll get the tab this time," she said, conjuring a wallet from the large bag, and withdrawing a bill that she then placed on the counter beneath her glass.

"I should pay instead; you know I earn more," he said, slowly straightening up and facing her. He looked rather full of himself.

"I should get you drunk more often! You always at least offer to pay the bill, rather than come up with stupid excuses like you do when you're sober," Sakura said with a chuckle. "Plus, your reflexes are slowed, so you can't just run away from me and expect to get away with it." She slipped down from her seat and brushed herself off, smoothed her skirt and then made sure that all of her womanly parts were properly contained.

"Hn." He dismissed her words and carefully tried to mirror her, stepping down and feeling around for solid footing. This time, he would not fall. He had promised himself that he wouldn't give her that pleasure again.

"Need a hand?" Sakura turned to assess him. "Or an arm?"

Kakashi's expression radiated something between sheepishness and bitterness beneath his mask, and she sidled up to him, forcing her arm through his. He still towered over her; her head only came up to his shoulder.

She guided him out to the street and shivered at the first wisps of cold air that washed over her. Instinctively, she huddled closer to his side, hugging his arm against her chest instead of loosely draping it through hers.

Kakashi didn't seem to mind, for he didn't pull away or make any sound of protest. He just was compliant, as much so as a stuffed animal would be. So she continued to hug him and nestle into him for warmth. They did things like this all the time, anyway.

When did it stop being weird? She couldn't quite place it. Perhaps it was when he had fallen asleep on her couch that first time after a group round of drinking. She had sobered up before him and took to kneeling at his side, playing off-duty medicnin. Before he fell asleep, he informed her that he had a request for her. Upon asking what it could be, she had promptly been silenced by her own surprise as his hands wrapped around her wrists and jerked her forward, then pulled again until she was leaning over him, with little distance between them. Her hair had fallen all around her face, and she remembered wishing that she could reach up and push it behind her ears.

It had taken a moment too late for her to realize that she had suddenly entered one of 'those' situations with her very respected Kakashi-sensei. Before she could fully distinguish the implications in her mind, as well as gather her bearings enough to break free of his hold, something very strange and awkward had happened. It was a memory that Sakura liked to entertain frequently, asking herself, 'Remember that one time when Kakashi-sensei-oops, I mean, Kakashi-, yanked you down and kissed you all Icha-Icha-style on your couch while he was sloshed, but he was still wearing his mask, and he actually looked kind of hot?'

Oh, indeed, she remembered quite well.

After that night, a barrier had been broken between them. It wasn't as if they had become more than friends, or even much more than the awkward 'acquaintances-yet-not-really' status that they had held for so long. However, they were able to progress to having the option of joining one another at the bar without having a group of tag-alongs. She figured that that was somehow a silent progression from how things had been before.

"Are you going back to your place tonight, or are you gonna crash on my sofa?" Sakura asked with a slightly teasing undertone, nudging him gently with her elbow.

"My place, definitely," Kakashi groaned, pressing two fingers to a temple. "I need to be at a briefing at noon. If I stay at your place, I'll definitely be sleeping until 2pm, or thereabouts. That sofa always does me in."

Strangely enough, the kiss was something that was never brought up between them. Sakura wasn't sure if it was because it wasn't necessary to bring up, or because of what could happen if it were brought to the surface.

But they were already speaking like lovers as is.

She smiled to herself and coiled herself around his arm more tightly.

–

They discarded their shoes before entering the apartment, and Sakura led Kakashi to his bedroom, making sure he sat down comfortably. She stood, surveying him with her arms crossed before saying, "How about I brew some tea?"

"That would be nice," Kakashi mumbled, reaching up and pushing his fingers under his headband, pulling it off while slowly massaging his forehead.

Sakura filled the tea kettle with water and set it on the stove, lighting the flame beneath it. She stood back against the counter and observed, her vision feeling as though it were swaying back and forth in just the slightest. To distract herself, she began humming a tune that had been playing at the bar earlier, extending her big toe and tracing the cracks in the linoleum. When the kettle began to scream, she silenced it quickly, moving it to another burner after turning off the flame.

Normally, there was absolutely no chance of sneaking up on her. The alcohol that hummed in her veins had slowed down her instincts and caused just enough distraction so that when two arms slung around her waist from behind, it took her completely by surprise.

Sakura stiffened, and threw a sharp look over her shoulder only to soften somewhat into her assailant's arms.

Kakashi left little room between them, and if either of them were to shift their hips forward or backward at all, their position would lose any semblance of innocence fast. That is, if there was any innocence to be had... Sakura got the distinct impression that he had not come looking for his tea.

His eyes, though hooded by nature, seemed to carry more heaviness, and his gaze felt like lead as he stared at her with an intensity that made her begin to feel shy and uncomfortable.

She swallowed, and turned back to face the tea-kettle, though she didn't dare try to handle it under such conditions. She was clumsy enough as is in her drunken state, but to throw in Hatake Kakashi giving her bedroom eyes, and she wasn't quite sure if she could function at all.

"The water for your tea's boiled," she informed him. "Would you like me to get you all set up?" Without thinking, she looked back over her shoulder at him, and then deemed it to be a mistake.

Tea was the last thing on his mind. She hadn't seen him like this in a long time, since he kissed her on the sofa only to never mention it thereafter. A bit flustered, she shifted her position only to find that she had shifted her butt into the cradle of his hips. A warm lump pressed into the top of her bum knocked her into reality, and she felt lightheaded with the rush of heat rising to her cheeks.

Nope, tea was certainly not on his mind at all.

"Sakura," Kakashi spoke, husky and only one step above a whisper. She felt a shiver run down her spine, and she spun around to face him, finding herself pinned between a drunken, horny Kakashi and a stove with a hot tea-kettle resting atop it. She couldn't deny that the way he said her name was exactly the way she had always dreamed of it being spoken.

"K-Kakashi," Sakura responded uncertainly, looking up at him with her arms braced back against the stove. "What are you doing?"

The eye that housed the sharingan seemed to produce its own luminescence in the dark, and he lowered his head until his lips were at her ears, making her tremble uncontrollably.

"Why don't we forget about the tea, and go back to my room?"

Sakura's eyes widened in the dark, and she knew in that moment that there was no way that things could simply go back to normal after this time.

–

The night was a blur, mostly a collection of various smears of images and colors and sounds. Sakura awoke in a bed that she instantly recognized as Kakashi's, but there was no Kakashi to account for. His scent was all over her, and she was hesitant to wash it off when she returned to her apartment. There was something comforting about his scent and the way that it hugged her all over.

There was little doubt in her mind as to what went on between them, and as she sampled the water temperature in the shower before stepping in, she felt something warm blossom deep and low in her stomach as she recounted what she could.

He had a thing for muttering dirty things at her ear, as if narrating what he was going to do to her as he did it. He would 'fuck her so hard', and hold her down as his hips slapped against hers. He told her that he wanted her 'so bad', and that she was beautiful.

She also knew that it must have gone on for a rather long time, and there was an instance during the middle of the night when he rekindled the contact between them, taking her hard and fast while she lay half asleep and barely aware of her surroundings.

Her only regret and true disappointment, was that she hadn't been able to see him upon waking up.

–

Things had started to change in the 'worst case scenario' sort of way ever since that night, concerning the relations between them. Whenever Sakura came calling, it seemed that Kakashi was conveniently burdened with a greater workload and a shorter leash.

She had returned to his apartment later that evening, only to find it vacant. Though he had mentioned a briefing at noon, he hadn't said anything about leaving for a mission so soon. There was so much she wanted to say, and there was a whole lot more that she wanted to confirm with him – that things would stay the same between them and wouldn't start getting 'weird'.

A week later, he showed up at the nurse's station in the hospital, as if he had been doing so every other day, holding a carton of takeout from a restaurant located a block away.

It was a very strange thing, to see a man with whom your last encounter was a very naked and sordid one, dressed and sunny and acting as if no such thing had happened. The nurses made eyes at him and pushed their busts forward, making themselves look like physically-disabled birds as Sakura arrived, having been paged. She would be damned if she would let him brush off that night and dress it up as anything other than what it truly was... A steamy, drunken one night stand that would have the rest of Konoha's ensemble of shinobi questioning the true sanity of the ninja they entrusted the village to.

"Sakura," he greeted her, raising his right hand in a dull wave. The ever-changing way in which he spoke her name never ceased to amuse her.

"Kakashi," she responded in a flat tone, folding her arms across her chest. The nurses seated at the nursing station shot her disapproving looks, as if they were shocked that she could address such a handsome man with such distaste.

Kakashi flicked his attention to the peanut gallery huddled behind the counter, and then stepped forward to tug on the sleeve of Sakura's medical lab coat. "Why don't we go somewhere where we can talk in peace?" he suggested, and hoisted the container of take-out food up. "I brought you something to eat. I know you don't eat well while you're at work."

"Oh, how sweet," murmured one nurse to another.

Sakura snatched the container and jerked her arm free. "Yes, let's." She led him down the hall and to the stairwell. She bounced down the steps while holding her breath, wondering how to approach the elephant of a topic between them. She pushed open the door at the end of her descent, not bothering to hold it open for him, and then went straight for the employee lounge.

"I take it you're disappointed in me," Kakashi mused as the door to the lounge nearly shut in his face.

At that time of day, there was nobody to be found within the room, precisely the reason that Sakura chose it.

She set the container down on one of the tables, heading over to a station for utensils before responding with a terse, "Maybe." She pulled up a chair and sat down, opened the box that he had brought for her, and stabbed a fork inside as she inhaled. He knew her tastes.

"Well, I don't know where to begin," he said, still hanging by the entrance with his arms crossed.

"You didn't even say good-bye," Sakura informed him bitterly, taking a bite and chewing spitefully.

"I'm sorry." He hung his head and meandered towards her. "I didn't know how to face you."

"It wasn't as though you..." She stopped herself, and then tried again, frowning. "It wasn't as if you did anything that I didn't want."

"I'm sorry," he repeated. At this point, he was positioned behind her, one hand at the back of her neck, stroking gently.

She closed her eyes, feeling tiny goosebumps swell with the chill that came from his touch.

Very vaguely, a memory floated up to the surface among her consciousness. It was of being hideously young, with poor fashion sense and ill knowledge on how hair should be styled, being breast-less and 12. She was stamping her feet outside, making sure to avoid puddles, as it was a cold and rainy day. She was angry, and her anger was directed towards Kakashi-sensei, for it had something to do with her being stood up at what would have been a date to train. The inclement weather suited her sour emotions.

Eventually, he showed up, holding an umbrella over her head and startling her with the sudden lack of pelting rain on her head. She whirled around and saw him, and instantly pulled her face into a scowl.

"You're late!" she cried, and a lump formed in her throat as soon as she started speaking, causing tears to form at the corners of her eyes. She did her best to swallow them back, but she was too upset and young to care about pride.

Kakashi-sensei, on the other hand, had had the decency to look ashamed of himself, which Sakura still gave him credit for to that day. He ruffled her hair and then said,

"I'm sorry."

It was in a tone nearly identical to the one that this older Kakashi was using right then and there.

She let her chin fall forward and the eating utensil in her hand gradually slipped through the cracks of her fingers, landing on the table with a soft 'clink!'.

"It's all right, I guess," she mumbled, though she didn't sound too convinced. She stared at the abandoned container of food, pursing her lips. She really didn't feel like eating, now.

"I promise that I won't let this change things between us," he said, still standing behind her. His hand skimmed down and to the side, gently gripping her right shoulder and giving it a small amateurish massage.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but luckily held her tongue in favor of her better judgment. Instead, she leaned into his touch, humming in pleasure.

He had already let things change, and she wondered if he knew.

–

Sakura was nursing a fruity mixed drink, sitting across from a very prettily-painted Ino, who kept digging for a compact mirror in her massive handbag and opening it to inspect her make-up. She would then put the mirror away, and then no more than 5 minutes would pass before the urge would come over the blonde, and the mirror would have to be conjured once more.

"You called me out because you said you had something really big to tell me," Ino reminded Sakura, drawing over an already thick line of dark-brown colored eye-liner at her lash-line. She held the mirror still, then tilted her head to gaze at herself from all different angles in order to assert that her work had been accomplished flawlessly, and then she snapped the compact closed with one hand, flicking her eyes up to address her friend.

"I do," Sakura said with a nod, though she suddenly huddled into herself, her shoulders hunched forward and her head lowered. "But I just gotta think of how to say it."

This made Ino's interest shoot through the roof. One eyebrow shot up, and she leaned over the table. "'How to say it'? Why, is it really bad or something?"

"Not really," Sakura replied, pursing her lips and then blowing a sigh through them. She lifted her drink and took the straw into her mouth, sipping down big gulps of the mix.

Ino's eyebrow was still raised over the other one, and she waved her hand in front of her friend's face. "Hey! You're not supposed to chug those, you'll get super sick!"

Sakura pulled the straw out of her mouth, gasping for breath with tears in her eyes that she wiped away promptly. "You know, once you drink more than just one sip at a time, these really start to taste awful," she said, scrunching up her nose.

"Really?" Ino glanced down and surveyed her own drink. "I'd still take them over anything else, any day. They still taste better than straight-up liquor."

"Nuh-uh," Sakura said, shaking her head.

Ino rolled her eyes, twirling her straw between her thumb and fore-finger. "Didn't you have something important to tell me?" she deadpanned.

"Oh, yeah," Sakura said quietly. She had been trying to stall until the right words and turns of phrases had come to mind, but the more liquor that entered her body, the less concentration she would have to do such things. She looked up into Ino's gaze and held it. "Promise not to get mad at me."

"I can't make a promise like that, forehead!" Ino cried. "Last time we tried a promise like that, you didn't talk to me for a week."

"That was different," Sakura said stiffly. "But I really need to trust that you will not judge me in your Ino-way."

Ino waved a hand dismissively. "Fine, fine. I 'promise', okay?"

"I slept with Kakashi."

"I'm sorry?" Ino said quickly, barely in time for Sakura to finish her confession. She chuckled, then giggled, then snorted and giggled more, and then said, "I think I just heard you say that you slept with Kakashi-sensei! I swear that my problem with mishearing things gets worse by the day."

But then she noticed that Sakura wasn't laughing with her. She was instead looking down into her lap, with her lip pulled white under her teeth. Ino's laughter died similarly to the sound of a train that had finished passing through – and she punctuated the end of her mistaken glee with a swift, "No, seriously?"

Sakura tentatively looked up, and gave the slightest of nods, squeezing her eyes shut as if to brace herself for the onslaught that was to come.

"Is he really as good as everyone says he is?" In an instant, Ino was back to leaning over the table inquisitively.

Sakura's eyes widened, and it took a moment for her brain to catch up. "Well, we were both a bit drunk," she said, rather sheepishly.

"Who came on to who first?" Ino's eyes were dancing with curiosity and what looked to be joy.

Thoughts strayed back to the tea that never was, and Sakura answered, "He came on to me first. I was at his apartment trying to make him some tea, and he just kind of... came up behind me."

Ino's eyes widened, and she clapped her hand over her mouth. "You guys didn't do it in the kitchen, did you?"

"No!" Sakura said, flailing her hands to banish the idea. Though the idea wasn't necessarily an unwelcome one... Kakashi in a kitchen, wearing nothing but an apron...

"What?! Why not?!" The blonde looked crest-fallen. "That would have been even hotter to add to your whole 'I just slept with this much older guy' thing. If you're gonna do it, do it big."

Sakura sank into her seat, covering her eyes with a groan. "God, do you have to make everything so awkward, pig? It's no wonder I'm so hesitant to go to you for anything like this."

Ino shrugged. "I don't understand what you need to come to me for, unless you were just announcing it to me, in which case – congratulations."

"Well, it's just that, things have been exactly the same as they were before we did...you know," Sakura lamented, peeking through her fingers.

"You mean you two are back to being awkwardly close friends?" Ino's face remained impassive.

"Yes!" Sakura let her head hit the table, lifting her fist and slamming it down.

"Hmm," Ino hummed, leaning back against her chair and tapping her index finger against her chin. "Well, at least he's not avoiding you."

"Anymore," Sakura supplied for her, prompting a raised eyebrow from across the table. She sighed and lifted her hands to try and describe the situation completely in gestures, before letting her hands fall back into her lap with a dull clap. She shook her head slowly. "It was only for a little while. He came up to me at work and apologized later, so I guess it's cool."

"I wonder if he felt guilty for corrupting you!" Ino gasped. "God, that'd be so dramatic; kinda hot." Ignoring the 'look' that she was receiving from her pink-haired companion, she kept going, "Like, he feels bad for doing it because he thinks he's taking your innocence away or something like that... Or because he was your teacher and he feels like it's against his duty or something!"

Sakura pursed her lips. "Don't be ridiculous, pig. You sound like you're quoting the plotline of one of your silly Mist dramas."

–

Sakura returned to her apartment that evening, parting ways with Ino at her door with a lazy wave. She had the buzz of booze in her veins, and it had muffled some of the chatter inside of her head regarding Konoha's Sharingan-wielding Jounin. She tossed around ideas for how to spend the rest of her evening as she unlocked her door. Should she take a bubble bath and sing along to pop music released 10 years ago? Watch a drama on tv?

She sank into the couch with a bottle of white wine in her hands, struggling with the cork for a couple moments with one hand while the other hand seized the remote and turned on the television. If she was going to drink at home, she'd do it the classy way.

After a few long sips, the content she was watching began to become more and more irrelevant, and soon she became unaware of the presence of the television at all. She spun the bottle slowly in her hands, examining the label.

A sharp and brief knock on the door sent her flying from her couch cushion with a scream, wine spilling on the couch and the carpet. She set the depleted bottle on the coffee table and clutched at her pounding heart, hoping that it was her imagination.

When the sound came again, this time more cautious, she rubbed at her eyes and shuffled her way to the front door, pulling the locks and slowly opening the heavy barrier.

Sakura lifted her eyes to assess her visitor, and then narrowed them in doubt, rubbing them once more. "Huh?"

Why was Kakashi there?

She pushed her arm out and flailed it around, her fingers messily brushing against his chest while he looked at her with vague amusement.

"Kakashi, is that really you?" she asked, stepping back.

"I would hope so," he replied, tightly. "You reek." He pushed his way inside and closed the door behind him despite her ensuing protests about privacy and private property being at stake.

She frowned, fumbling with the chain of one of the locks as she slid it into place. "That's not very nice to say," she informed him.

"What were you doing, drinking alone?" He turned around once he was standing in the living room, his eyes washing over the wet patches on the upholstery and carpet.

"Nothing," she replied, following him into the room. "I was just enjoying my night off."

She glanced down at herself and realized that she was wearing her sakura-patterned nightie set, the one that dated back to when she was about 14 years old. It was a bit short on her, but because it still fit and provided comfort and some amount of cover, she wore it freely around the house. The deep tears near the bottom and crotch area hadn't fazed her before, as she hadn't been planning on anyone seeing her in them.

Until now.

She slapped one hand over her butt, and then quickly sat down on the couch, shutting her legs tightly. She decided to cross one leg over the other, clearing her throat.

"Well, this is a bit inconvenient, isn't it?" she said after her clearing her throat. She wanted to make sure that she appeared as composed as possible, despite looking quite the opposite.

"I never knew you to drink alone," Kakashi commented, lifting the now sticky bottle of wine and examining it with a certain level of disgust in his gaze.

Sakura jumped up and snatched the bottle back, glaring at him. "Everybody has their first's," she replied tartly. She suddenly became shy and avoided his gaze, much preferring to watch her finger graze around the opening of the bottle, fingertips dipping in now and then. "Why did you come?" she asked quietly.

"I wanted to talk to you," he responded vaguely, his eyes on the television, as if welcoming it as an easy distraction.

"Then talk."

"That's kind of hard when you're drunk."

"Then drink, too." She handed him the bottle, letting him survey the remainder of alcohol.

"Really, Sakura?" He looked at her, eyes heavy, and then pulled his mask down.

"Go on," she urged him, flicking a hand at him.

He stared at her for a moment, and then set the bottle down on the coffee table before them. Sakura raised an eyebrow and made a noise of protest, and he surged forward and cupped the back of her head, his lips an inch from hers.

She wormed against him, confused at the sudden contact, but she calmed when he kissed her. She murmured his name against his lips, and he lifted himself to bring their bodies closer, arching over her.

As soon as their lips separated naturally for breath, Sakura squirmed away from him, gasping out, "You can't do this."

Kakashi's lips were upon her throat in an instant, dotting it with breathy kisses. His hand gripped her hip and aligned it with his, groaning. When he registered her words, he made quick work of her mouth, asking between kisses, "Are you saying you don't want this?"

She arched her chest until he was forced off of her with a loud groan, and then she sat up, smoothing her hair and fixing an angry face upon him. "You said you wanted to talk, not make out," she said.

A rather guilty look crossed his face, and he slumped back against the opposite couch cushions without a word.

"What are we, anyway?" Sakura asked him. "We already fucked once," at the use of such vulgar language, Kakashi lifted his head sharply and stared at her owlishly. "...And yet, you acted as though we were still good old comrades."

She stood up and lifted the forgotten bottle of wine, tilting it back and forth before scoffing at something unknown and striding out into the kitchen, depositing the bottle into the fridge. Pausing for a moment with her hand still positioned over the refrigerator handle, she tossed a look at him from over her shoulder. The shadows in her kitchen made her stare look remarkably dark and, quite frankly, terrifying.

"Is that just the way Jounin interact with their comrades?" she asked him, adding an innocent lilt to her voice. "If so, then I'm sorry. I didn't know-"

"Sakura," Kakashi spoke, his voice carrying a warning as he rose to his feet.

She turned to face him fully, her face full of defiance. "What?" she spoke sharply.

He rubbed at his forehead as though he had been strained and put through a terribly tiring day, and then made eye contact with her. "You don't understand. It's not like that."

"Then what is it like? Did you just want to be able to fuck your ex-student?"

Something behind his uncovered eye flashed, and the distance between them vanished in the span of half of a heartbeat. Before she could fully register the fact that he had even moved, he was upon her, pressing her against the cold surface of the fridge, and glaring into her eyes like she had never seen anyone glare at her before. All Sakura could do was let her jaw unhinge, and merely gape at him.

"What the fuck do you want, Sakura?" he demanded in a growl that had a snarling spin to it. "What do you want from me?"

Something slipped into place in her brain, and she threw fisted hands upon his collarbone, scowling. "What do YOU want from ME? Do you just want to fuck me and be done?"

"NO!"

The shout tore through her apartment, through the windows that she had left open, and echoed against the linoleum of the kitchen.

He backed away from her promptly, looking rather shocked at the calibur of his own voice. Sakura was slow to release him however, and lingered back against the kitchen appliance that had been a sorry witness to such drama.

"Then I don't get it," Sakura finally spoke, much softer than either of them had spoken in at least five minutes.

"I haven't committed to a woman in years," Kakashi said, practically sighing the words out as he reached one hand up and entangling it in his hair. "And needless to say, the last woman that I was committed to was not a former student of mine."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Do you really think that anyone would care about that? It's not as though I'm a defenseless little girl, Kakashi." The lack of an honorific attached to his name sent his eyes flicking up in surprise.

"I'm 20 years old. If _this_," she took a deep breath and paused to let the deeper meaning of 'this' sink in before she carried on. "was something that I didn't want, I would pound you into the ground so fast you wouldn't know what had hit you until you woke up in an ANBU interrogation cell." A small smile tugged at the edge of her mouth.

"ANBU, huh? You'd take it that far?" Kakashi rested one hand on his right hip, finally looking as if he were starting to calm down.

Sakura stepped forward and jabbed him in the chest with her index finger. "You bet your sweet old ass that I would..._if _it were something that I didn't want you to do."

Kakashi turned his face away, his hand slowly reaching up and covering hers over his chest. "I just worry about how this may compromise our work relationship," he said quietly.

"'Work relationship'," Sakura parroted with a scoff. "I work in the hospital, and you work on the field, doing actual work suited for a Jounin. How could it possibly compromise our jobs?"

"Then you don't intend on going back on active duty?" He narrowed his eyes inquisitively, hearing this for the first time.

"No," she replied curtly. "Unless there's dire need for me." She steeled herself before him, refusing to draw her eyes away from his. "My place is in that hospital, caring for the injured shinobi who return from their missions."

"You could do so much more," Kakashi murmured.

"I know," she said firmly. "But this is what I want. It also works conveniently in our favor."

He nodded slightly, reaching out and gripping her shoulder gently. "Sakura... You wouldn't hold yourself back for me, would you?"

"Never," she responded. "Not for you, nor for anyone else." She smirked at him. "I'm selfish like that."

A relieved smile tugged at the corner of his eye, and he gave her shoulder a squeeze. "A quality that I'm very thankful for," he commented as his free hand reached up and yanked his mask down swiftly.

Sakura arched her back against the refrigerator, anticipating the next move as he leaned down and kissed her. It was soft and calm, lacking the hunger and desperation that his other kisses had been full of. She reached up and looped her arms around his neck, embracing him loosely.

When they parted, she smiled at him impishly and he chuckled.

"You taste like alcohol," he said.

She kissed him swiftly and bit his lower lip to hush him.

–

"That handsome Jounin is here to see you again, Haruno-san."

Sakura lifted her gaze from the stack of patient files and paperwork on her desk to acknowledge a smiling nurse standing in the doorway of her office. "Again?" she grunted, swirling her swivel chair to the side and standing. She pushed past the nurse and strode out into the hallway, brushing at her lab-coat, smoothing it and tugging it down.

"When will he learn not to bother me when I'm at work?" she questioned herself under her breath.

Kakashi stood at the front desk, avoiding the batted eyes of the nurses and medics who attempted to make conversation with him. When he saw Sakura push through the swinging doors, his heart fluttered.

"You!" Sakura jabbed a finger at him as she made her way over. "I'm trying to process the files of the 12 shinobi who returned from the failed Grass mission, and here you are – here to bother me again, I presume." An angry pout decorated her lips once she had finished her rant.

"Not just to bother you, although that is part of what I live for," Kakashi replied sweetly, reveling in her exasperated reaction. He slipped his hand inside his vest and withdrew a small, cylindrical scroll and offered it to the pink-haired medic before him.

"A mission?" All words of protest were swept away as she took the scroll and unrolled it, scanning the parchment.

"A mission with me."

Her eyes met his sharply. "Kakashi," she said, removing any honorific. "What are you thinking?" she hissed.

He stepped forward and placed a hand atop her head, his eyes crinkled jovially. "I need the best of the best for this one... And I only know of one medic who fits that description."

Those who were witnessing the scene were whispering amongst themselves not so quietly.

"_Is he proposing?!"_

"_I think he might be!"_

"_Oh, finally! I thought poor Sakura-san would never get married!"_

"Kakashi..." Sakura murmured, her eyes softening. "It's been so long since I've been out on the field. Plus, it'd be fraternization. Aren't you worried about that?"

"Just go on the mission, Sakura." Kakashi smiled from behind the mask. "I want you, and only you."

–

**END**

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A/N: An abrupt ending and a corny-as-fuck ending, but I had to end it here. I was literally going insane with figuring out how to end this fic. I have a couple others that are waiting to be finished and processed, so if you weren't satisfied with this one, maybe you'll like the other ones? :P

I spent a long time on this fic, working off and on...sometimes just coming back to edit a paragraph or add a sentence, and other times adding whole pages. Therefore, it may not flow as smoothly as it should and for that, I apologize. 3:

Please review and tell me what you thought!


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